Abbe had had his attention on Meng Lei for a very long time now!
He had already heard of Meng Lei’s great reputation before he had enrolled in the academy and knew that Meng Lei was the most gifted talent among this year’s batch of new students.
When the two of them then became housemates, everything about Meng Lei couldn’t escape Abbe’s scrutiny all the more. After three months of observation, Abbe professed to be someone that knew Meng Lei very well. However, little did he expect that Meng Lei had actually still kept such a huge secret from him!
“Aren’t you a human? How come you could awaken the Dragon bloodline?” Abbe stared hard at Meng Lei, his eyes full of perplexity. “Or have you always been a Dragon Person all along?”
“You’re asking me? Who am I supposed to ask, then?”
Meng Lei held out his hands and added, “I was watching the King of Fighters battle just now when this suddenly happened. To be honest, I’m still in utter confusion right now!”
Abbe didn’t doubt him. “Looks like you really have Dragon blood in you!”
Although a lot of Dragon People had awakened their Dragon bloodline at a young age, there was no lack of people like Meng Lei, who only awakened after maturing to a certain stage.
Meng Lei wasn’t a special case!
“Perhaps, I guess!”
Meng Lei had complicated feelings about this. He wasn’t going to tell Abbe the truth, of course. Even if he did, Abbe might not necessarily believe him, anyway. Assimilating the Dragon bloodline into his body?
Just the sound of it alone was ridiculous!
“Congrats!” said Abbe detachedly.
Then, he paid Meng Lei no further attention and went about his business in the restroom. Meng Lei walked over to the mirror and observed his current appearance.
He looked strange and was even covered from head to toe in blood. Meng Lei turned on the tap and started to clean himself.
That looks a lot more pleasant to the eye!
Except... Am I going to look like this from now on?
Meng Lei sighed. Even though the Fire Dragon bloodline brought him great power and strength, he simply couldn’t find himself in a good mood the moment he thought of how he had turned into a monster!
He preferred his previous human appearance!
Meng Lei asked, “Abbe, is it impossible for me to return to how I looked previously?”
“Why do you want to return to what you looked like previously?” Abbe’s puzzled voice drifted over from the cubicle. “In Fire Dragon Kingdom, everyone longs to have Dragon blood so that they can become an existence envied, respected, and feared by others! Additionally, what you’ve awakened is the Fire Dragon Kingdom’s royal bloodline, which is even more extraordinary! Why would you want to return to what you looked like previously?”
“I look kinda strange now. I still prefer how I looked previously!” With a shake of his head, Meng Lei asked, “Tell me, is there any way to change it back?”
“I really don’t understand what you’re thinking!” replied Abbe with a shake of his head.
Nevertheless, he went on and said, “For Dragon People that awakened their bloodline at a later stage, their Dragon blood is ultimately comparatively less concentrated, so they aren’t able to maintain a Dragon form for long. You’ll return to your previous appearance when the energy in your body is fully expended!”
“Oh, I see!”
Realization dawned upon Meng Lei.
And true enough!
After a mere five minutes, Meng Lei felt an empty and hollow feeling coming from his body. The dragon scales on his body faded away swiftly like the tide, and in the blink of an eye, they had already disappeared cleanly!
His dragon tail and dragon bones also vanished along with them!
Meng Lei became smooth and clean, with not a single thread of clothing on him!
“I’ve turned back!
“Haha, I’ve turned back!
“This current look is much more pleasing to the eye after all!”
Right at that moment, Abbe walked out of the cubicle to see Meng Lei fully naked, and his eyes widened big and round at once.
What the f*ck! He’s so big!
“Abbe, get me a set of clothes!”
...
Meng Lei returned to the Flaming Ring of Life And Death after getting dressed and exiting the restroom. The King of Fighters award ceremony was currently underway!
The King of Fighters battle had ended!
It concluded with the three-term King of Fighters, Nicolas the Giant Spiritual God, successfully defending his title. As the victor, he received the people’s cheers and idolization, and his limelight was unparalleled for a while there!
On the other hand, as the loser, Odin Flit quietly left the Flaming Ring of Life And Death. In the upcoming period of at least a year, he would have to live with the loser’s title!
No matter which world it was, people only remembered the victors, while the losers were destined to be forgotten and despised. Reality... was simply always this brutal!
“The victor is king, while the loser is the knave!”
Meng Lei didn’t leave in a hurry. Instead, he continued to pick up attribute light balls that had dropped. After the Fire Dragon bloodline’s accidental assimilation, both his physical body constitution and magic power reserves had reached fifth-grade!
On the contrary, his spiritual power was now lagging behind in the last place and was still at the fourth-grade level.
It was just nice that the arena was crowded, and the people there were mostly in a state of stimulation. He could pick up a few more spirit light balls during this period to compensate for the difference in his spiritual power!
...
It was already midnight by the time he returned to the academy!
After he cleaned himself up, Meng Lei didn’t meditate like what he usually did but studied the Fire Dragon Manual instead. He intended to give the top-notch Battle Aura Technique a try.
What was that saying again? “If you can’t beat them, then join them” or something?
Since he already had Dragon blood in him, then it would be too wasteful if he didn’t cultivate the Fire Dragon Manual.
More than an hour later, when he felt that he was more or less done with studying it, Meng Lei attempted to practice the technique. Upon being guided, a mysterious energy current in him began to crawl slowly in his meridians, much like a snail!
It moved at a very slow speed!
However, Meng Lei was secretly rather excited!
According to the Fire Dragon Manual, that mysterious energy current was Fire Dragon Battle Aura. The fact that the Fire Dragon Battle Aura had begun to circulate in his body meant that he had already entered the Fire Dragon Manual‘s rudimentary stage!
This was a fantastic turn of events!
As long as I can cultivate the Fire Dragon Manual, I am confident that I can cultivate this battle aura technique to a level of great mastery!
Alright, I’ll set a small goal first. For example, becoming a Ninth-Grade Warrior?
Meng Lei practiced the Fire Dragon Manual the whole night. After a night’s cultivation, his Fire Dragon Battle Aura circulation speed had become a lot faster. It was quite a few times faster than what it had been when he had first started!
Fire Dragon Manual also proved itself worthy of being a cultivation method for the Fire Dragon royal family’s use. After a night’s cultivation, Meng Lei’s Physical Body Constitution had actually increased by more than 40 points!
Now, that was pretty dramatic!
That was more than 40 points in a night!
In other words, it was indicative of more than 1,200 points in a month!
At this rate, he would need only two months to become a Sixth-Grade Warrior!
A Sixth-Grade Warrior!
That definitely wouldn’t be weak anymore!
However! I can’t possibly spend all my time cultivating the Fire Dragon Manual. I still have to meditate at night to increase my spiritual power and magic power reserves.
Should I do it in the afternoon instead?
No, that won’t do. The afternoon is meant for picking up light balls!
How about... In the morning?
Alright, the morning it is, then!
I’m already more or less done with learning the basics of using magic. I only need to improve my spiritual power and my magic power reserves, and study even higher-grade spells from now on!
Magic classes... It doesn’t matter whether I go for them or not!
Alright! I’ve happily made up my mind!
Cultivate the Fire Dragon Manual in the morning!
Pick up attributes in the afternoon!
Meditate at night!
His schedule for 24 hours a day had been adequately set!
He also needed to go to the Flame Arena, of course. The fact that Meng Lei had already become a fighter, and was required to fight at least 10 battles per month aside, just the huge number of attribute light balls available there alone already meant that he had to go there!
In the next three days, Meng Lei strictly implemented the plans he had previously set and carried out self-learning... No, it should be... self-refining instead!
Thus, he was absent for his magic classes in the morning. This greatly puzzled Mr. Horatio, the teacher in charge of teaching thunder-elemental magic. Meng Lei wasn’t one to skip classes usually, so why hadn’t he come for classes for three days in a row lately?
The students didn’t know anything either when Horatio asked them about it. In the end, left with no other choice, Horatio could only directly report this matter to Meng Lei’s head teacher!
Students were given a lot of freedom for classes in Fire Dragon Academy, so they could choose whether they wanted to attend them or not. Mr. Horatio definitely wouldn’t care that much if others didn’t attend classes, but Meng Lei was a different case!
He had very high hopes for Meng Lei and didn’t wish for him to be remiss in his studies because of this.
“What? That little fellow hasn’t come for classes for three days?”